Rotary printing presses use a so-called master such as a printing plate which is mounted on a cylinder of the printing press. The master carries an image which is defined by the ink accepting is areas of the printing surface and a print is obtained by applying ink to said surface and then transferring the ink from the master onto a substrate, which is typically a paper substrate. In conventional lithographic printing, ink as well as an aqueous fountain solution are fed to the printing surface of the master, which is referred to herein as lithographic surface and consists of oleophilic (or hydrophobic, i.e. ink accepting, water repelling) areas as well as hydrophilic (or oleophobic, i.e. water accepting, ink repelling) areas.
Printing masters are generally obtained by the so-called computer-to-film method wherein various pre-press steps such as typeface selection, scanning, color separation, screening, trapping, layout and imposition are accomplished digitally and each color selection is transferred to graphic arts film using an image-setter. After processing, the film can be used as a mask for the exposure of an imaging material called plate precursor and after plate processing, a printing plate is obtained which can be used as a master.
In recent years the so-called computer-to-plate method has gained a lot of interest. This method, also called direct-to-plate method, bypasses the creation of film because the digital document is transferred directly to a plate precursor by means of a so-called plate-setter. In the field of such computer-to-plate methods the following improvements are being studied presently:
(i) On-press imaging. A special type of a computer-to-plate process, involves the exposure of a plate precursor while being mounted on a plate cylinder of a printing press by means of an image-setter that is integrated in the press. This method may be called `computer-to-press` and printing presses with an integrated image-setter are sometimes called digital presses. A review of digital presses is given in the Proceedings of the Imaging Science & Technology's 1997 International Conference on Digital Printing Technologies (Non-Impact Printing 13). Computer-to-press methods have been described in e.g. EP-A 770 495, EP-A 770 496, WO 94001280, EP-A 580 394 and EP-A 774 364. The best known imaging methods are based on ablation. A problem associated with ablative plates is the generation of-debris which is difficult to remove and may disturb the printing process or may contaminate the exposure optics of the integrated image-setter. Other methods require processing with chemicals which may damage the electronics and other devices of the press.
(ii) On-press coating. Whereas a plate precursor normally consists of a sheet-like support and one or more functional coatings, computer-to-press methods have been described wherein a composition, which is capable to form a lithographic surface upon image-wise exposure and optional processing, is provided directly on the surface of a plate cylinder of the press. EP-A 101 266 describes the coating of a hydrophobic layer directly on the hydrophilic surface of a plate cylinder. After removal of the non-printing areas by ablation, a master is obtained. However, ablation should be avoided in computer-to-press methods, as discussed above. U.S. Pat. No. 5,713,287 describes a computer-to-press method wherein a so-called switchable polymer such as tetrahydro-pyranyl methylmethacrylate is applied directly on the surface of a plate cylinder. The switchable polymer is converted from a first water-sensitive property to an opposite water-sensitive property by image-wise exposure. The latter method requires a curing step and the polymers are quite expensive because they are thermally unstable and therefore difficult to synthesize. EP-A 802 457 describes a hybrid method wherein a functional coating is provided on a plate support that is mounted on a cylinder of a printing press. This method also needs processing.
(iii) Elimination of chemical processing. The development of functional coatings which require no processing or may be processed with plain water is another major trend in plate making. WO 90002044, WO 91008108 and EP-A 580 394 disclose such plates, which are, however, all ablative plates. In addition, these methods require typically multi-layer materials, which makes them less suitable for on-press coating. A non-ablative plate which can be processed with plain water is described in e.g. EP-A 770 497 and EP-A 773 112. Such plates also allow on-press processing, either by wiping the exposed plate with water while being mounted on the press or by the fountain solution during the first runs of the printing job.
(iv) Thermal imaging. Most of the computer-to-press methods referred to above use so-called thermal materials, i.e. plate precursors or on-press coatable compositions which comprise a compound that converts absorbed light into heat. The heat which is generated on image-wise exposure triggers a (physico-)chemical process, such as ablation, polymerization, insolubilization by cross-linking of a polymer, decomposition, or particle coagulation of a thermoplastic polymer latex. This heat-mode process then results in a lithographic surface consisting of ink accepting and ink repelling areas. In addition to some of the disadvantages of the prior art materials and methods, indicated above, a major problem associated with all the known non-ablative thermal materials is the limited shelf life. Because these materials all contain one or more reactive compounds, the stability is highly dependent on temperature and/or humidity conditions during storage.
Another problem associated with most thermal materials disclosed in the prior art is that these materials are suitable for exposure with either an internal drum image-setter (i.e. typically a high-power short-time exposure) or an external drum image-setter (i.e. relatively low-power long-time exposure). Providing a universal material that can be exposed with satisfactory results on both these types of laser devices known in the art is a requirement difficult to fulfill.
EP-A084444 describes a printing plate precursor comprising aluminum silicate as image forming material. Upon laser exposure, the aluminum silicate is converted to a more oleophilic form. However, the difference in oleophilicity between exposed and unexposed areas is rather low and it is necessary to apply a coating which comprises an organic, oleophilic phase that preferentially wets and deposits on the exposed areas and an aqueous phase that preferentially wets and deposits on the unexposed areas. This system does not fulfill the requirement of needing no processing.
DE-A-19814877 describes a printing member wherein a hydrophilic zirconium oxide ceramic is converted upon exposure into an oleophilic phase. This system is characterized by a low speed, requiring the use of a very powerful, Q-switched Nd:YAG laser and, accordingly, does not fulfill the requirement of being universally exposable.